by Brian Wheeler, Political reporter
ReutersNigel Farage has faced condemnation from leaders across the political spectrum as he defended his claim that the West provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the leader of Reform UK said he was ” [Russian President Vladimir] Not “Putin,” but “poke the Russian bear with a stick, and don’t be surprised if it reacts.”
In a previous interview with BBC Panorama, Mr Farage said Putin was “of course” to blame for the war, but that the expansion of the EU and Nato had given Russians an excuse to tell “they will attack us again”.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in an interview that Mr Farage’s comments were “completely wrong and playing into Putin’s hands”, and accused Mr Farage of “appeasement” as “dangerous to Britain’s national security”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described the comments as “disgraceful”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called Mr Farage a “Putin apologist”, and the Scottish National Party (SNP) said it was “an insult to all the Ukrainian people who have suffered”.
In an article in the Telegraph“Please don’t blame me for telling the truth about Putin’s war in Ukraine,” Farage wrote, adding: “I want to set the record straight.”
“[The] “The invasion of Ukraine was immoral, outrageous and inexcusable. As a defender of national sovereignty, I believe President Putin was completely wrong to invade the sovereign nation of Ukraine,” he wrote.
“No one can rightly accuse me of being an appeaser. I have never tried to justify Putin’s aggression in any way, and I still don’t.”
“But the fact remains that I was one of the few politicians who saw it coming 10 years ago, warned that it would happen, and who has consistently voiced correct and honest opinions about Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
“As I have made clear many times since then, if you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised if he responds. And if you don’t have the means or the political will to stand up to Russia, poking the bear is clearly not good foreign policy.”
“Completely wrong.”
Earlier, Mr Sunak said Mr Farage’s comments to the BBC were “completely wrong and playing into Putin’s hands”.
He added: “This is a man. [Mr Putin] With Putin using nerve gas on British streets and conducting business with countries like North Korea, this appeasement policy is dangerous to Britain’s security, the security of our allies who rely on Britain, and will only embolden Putin further.”
Meanwhile, Sir Keir said “President Putin bears sole responsibility” for the invasion of Ukraine, adding: “Anyone who wants to stand for representation in our Parliament should make it very clear that we oppose that invasion.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “As I travel around the country, in cities, towns and villages, British people are flying the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of unity and hope for the future.”
“Nigel Farage has proven he is on the side of Putin and not on the side of freedom.”
SNP’s Brendan O’Hara He told The National“By defending the indefensible, Mr Farage has once again shown how out of touch he is with the opinion of Scottish voters.”
Speaking to Panorama, the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader was questioned by Nick Robinson about past comments he has made about Putin.
“I said I dislike him as a person, but I respect him as a statesman who has succeeded in controlling the running of Russia,” he replied.
“It has been ‘clear’ to me for many years that the continued eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union is giving this man an excuse to start a war by making the Russian people say, ‘They’re going to attack us again,'” he said.
Pressed further, he added: “We started this war. You know, of course he’s to blame. He used our actions as an excuse.”
After the interview aired on Friday, former MEP Mr Farage told X that he was “one of the few people who has been consistently honest about the war with Russia”.
Along with his new statement, he reposted a speech he gave to the European Parliament in 2014, in which he called on Western countries to “stop playing war games with Putin.”
Labour’s shadow defence secretary, John Healey, said the comments made the Reform UK leader “unfit to hold any political office in our country, let alone lead a serious political party in Parliament”.
The Ukrainian presidential office told the BBC there would be no official statement about Mr Farage’s comments.
But a presidential source warned of “the virus of Putinism and the rise of war propaganda”, adding that “the task of civilised humanity is to prevent this virus from spreading”.
Reform UK is catching up with the Conservative Party in opinion polls after Farage announced he was returning to the forefront of politics as party leader just after the start of the general election campaign.
The prime minister has said his goal is for the Reform Party to replace the Conservatives as the official opposition to Labour. He has said he is certain Labour will take power on July 4, but opinion polls suggest the party may only win a handful of seats in the upcoming election.
Additional reporting by Christy Cooney
